Research with children. Ethical implications on the relevance of parents for qualitative research practice

The relationship between researchers and research participants is a central topic within debates on ethics. This is also true for childhood studies. However, other involved stakeholders - such as legal guardians - are oftentimes not considered systematically, despite playing an important role as gatekeepers in the research process. Therefore, this article can be understood as a discussion paper, drawing on examples from an ethnographic research project to illustrate the complexity of conflicting interests of different stakeholders involved in the research process. Thereby, an ethical dilemma for the researchers is revealed: who is committed to whom in what sense? Furthermore, it is highlighted how strongly children within the research process are dependent on generational conditions, even when considered to be social actors.